It was completely sunny though breezy until 11AM. Clouds gradually increased and though there was no precipitation it was mostly overcast from 1PM onwards. Weekend operation in addition the usual lifts in the Main Lodge region included chairs 5, 10 and 12-14. The weather did not impede lift operations, but temps up top never got out of the 20's so everything above 10,000 remained frozen.
We were at Chair 2 at 8:30AM opening. Today was the last day of normal 8:30AM - 4PM operation. Starting tomorrow it will be 7:30AM - 3PM, but in current weather there's no reason to be there before 9AM. The chair 2 runs softened about 9:30 and were best until 11AM. Here's a lady skiing with her dog at the base of chair 2.
We stuck with 2 well past 10AM except for a couple runs on Powder Bowl with similar NE aspect.
Face of 3 and Cornice were well groomed, on the firm side of ideal but still good skiing around 11AM. With the afternoon overcast they never got softer. Broadway Main Lodge runs were similar at 11AM but softened to good corn before noon. The race course runs were opened to the public about noon, so we hit Ralphie's before lunch and then Fascination from Cornice after lunch. You can still walk on to the third floor sundeck at Main Lodge, though that snowpack looks 2-3 feet lower than on our last visit April 21.
At 1:30 I used Climax as the test case for the top as it gets sun all morning in May. It sucked big time, a total coral reef, so I bailed into Saddle Bowl, then took 3 and Coyote to 5. The face of 5 was just then softening around 2PM, so Liz and I had a good runs on Face of 5 and Sliver there, though I took a header there skiing a bit too aggressively. We left 5 and skied the other race course run, Andy's Double Gold, to the gondola.
As it might be the last day for chair 14, we went back up the gondola and off the backside. As on the front side snow remained frozen above ~10,000 feet. Snow below Roadrunner on 14 softened nicely for the late afternoon so we took a second lap back there.
The Dos Pasos and No Pasos chutes we skied in February have burned off.
We left via chair 13 and I skied a couple of runs on 12. From 12 there is a direct view of Philippe's at center of this pic.
Snow will likely be too firm this trip but I should get a shot at that over Memorial weekend.
On the plus side, it never was warm enough in the afternoon for the snow to get sticky. There were clumps of soft snow on the busier runs though. I was not an overall busy day at all, but the conditions confined most people to the lower half of the open runs. Skiing mostly groomers due to the conditions from opening to nearly closing, I ended up with 33,700 vertical.
Hopefully the weather will cooperate more for Memorial Day weekend. It's supposed to warm up by this Thursday.
We were at Chair 2 at 8:30AM opening. Today was the last day of normal 8:30AM - 4PM operation. Starting tomorrow it will be 7:30AM - 3PM, but in current weather there's no reason to be there before 9AM. The chair 2 runs softened about 9:30 and were best until 11AM. Here's a lady skiing with her dog at the base of chair 2.
We stuck with 2 well past 10AM except for a couple runs on Powder Bowl with similar NE aspect.
Face of 3 and Cornice were well groomed, on the firm side of ideal but still good skiing around 11AM. With the afternoon overcast they never got softer. Broadway Main Lodge runs were similar at 11AM but softened to good corn before noon. The race course runs were opened to the public about noon, so we hit Ralphie's before lunch and then Fascination from Cornice after lunch. You can still walk on to the third floor sundeck at Main Lodge, though that snowpack looks 2-3 feet lower than on our last visit April 21.
At 1:30 I used Climax as the test case for the top as it gets sun all morning in May. It sucked big time, a total coral reef, so I bailed into Saddle Bowl, then took 3 and Coyote to 5. The face of 5 was just then softening around 2PM, so Liz and I had a good runs on Face of 5 and Sliver there, though I took a header there skiing a bit too aggressively. We left 5 and skied the other race course run, Andy's Double Gold, to the gondola.
As it might be the last day for chair 14, we went back up the gondola and off the backside. As on the front side snow remained frozen above ~10,000 feet. Snow below Roadrunner on 14 softened nicely for the late afternoon so we took a second lap back there.
The Dos Pasos and No Pasos chutes we skied in February have burned off.
We left via chair 13 and I skied a couple of runs on 12. From 12 there is a direct view of Philippe's at center of this pic.
Snow will likely be too firm this trip but I should get a shot at that over Memorial weekend.
On the plus side, it never was warm enough in the afternoon for the snow to get sticky. There were clumps of soft snow on the busier runs though. I was not an overall busy day at all, but the conditions confined most people to the lower half of the open runs. Skiing mostly groomers due to the conditions from opening to nearly closing, I ended up with 33,700 vertical.
Hopefully the weather will cooperate more for Memorial Day weekend. It's supposed to warm up by this Thursday.